Usage of monitor bezel buttons to control and indicate multimedia
Contents
1. Indicator Technical Disclosure Bulletin vol 39 No 7 Jul 1996 pp 171 172 Convenient Hard Disk Usage Monitor IBM amp Technical Disclosure Bulletin vol 36 No 09B Sep 1993 p 275 Monitor Indicators Technical Disclosure Bulletin vol 37 No 12 Dec 1994 p 219 Intel Universal Host Controller Interface UHCI Design Guide Revision 1 1 Mar 1996 pp 1 41 Copyright 1996 Intel 8x930Ax 8x930Hx Universal Serial Bus Microcon troller User s Manual pp 1 1 through 2 17 Intel Corporation Advanced Information 8x930Hx Uni versal Serial Bus Hub Peripheral Controller May 1997 pp 1 33 Copyright 1997 Intel Corporation Intel s New 430TX PCIset Richer Mul timedia Plus World Class Power Management Copyright 1997 List continued on next page Primary Examiner Rupal Dharia 74 Attorney Agent or Firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer amp Feld LLP 57 ABSTRACT A computer system includes a monitor having a universal serial bus USB interface for connecting with a base system Multiple button and LED controls are conveniently placed on a front bezel of the monitor As the buttons are actuated commands are passed to the base system via the USB An on screen display button causes an application to be launched on the base system for modifying screen attributes stored in a monitor controller in the monitor A USB controller in the monitor updates the monitor control2. United States Patent Bayramoglu et al US006289466B1 10 Patent No 45 Date of Patent US 6 289 466 B1 Sep 11 2001 54 USAGE OF MONITOR BEZEL BUTTONS TO CONTROL AND INDICATE MULTIMEDIA FUNCTIONS 75 Inventors Gokalp Bayramoglu Houston Henry M D Souza Cypress Valiuddin Ali Houston all of TX US 73 Assignee Compaq Computer Corporation Houston TX US Notice Subject to any disclaimer the term of this patent is extended or adjusted under 35 U S C 154 b by 0 days 21 Appl No 08 885 586 22 Filed Jun 30 1997 Related U S Application Data 60 Provisional application No 60 049 979 filed on Jun 11 1997 51 E GO06F 1 26 GOGF 1 28 GO6F 1 30 52 0 8 713 310 713 300 713 320 713 330 713 340 714 22 710 8 710 10 710 14 58 Field of Search 395 750 01 750 02 395 750 03 750 05 750 07 750 08 182 2 154 500 345 10 514 365 227 370 465 79 713 300 340 714 22 710 8 10 14 56 References Cited U S PATENT DOCUMENTS 5 319 705 6 1994 Halter et al cc 380 4 5 375 245 12 1994 Solhjell et al 395 750 03 5 428 730 6 1995 Baker et al 395 154 List continued on next page FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS 19543942A1 0701194A1 11030976A 5 1997 DE 8 1995 EP 2 1999 IP OTHER PUBLICATIONS European Search Report EP 98 30 4568 Oct 8 1998 2 pp
3. gsn OLE 341 mn VIVO 00 U S Patent Sep 11 2001 Sheet 5 of 6 US 6 289 466 B1 402 400 404 422 MONITOR DLL MONITOR CPL BEZEL DLL m c e itecto E tel RING 3 RING 0 MON SYS BZL SYS BEZEL VXD AUD SYS 406 408 410 412 414 CPQ USB SYS 416 USBHUB SYS USB 418 DRIVER USBD SYS STACK HOST CNTLR DRIVER UHCD SYS ________________________ LEVEL HARDWARE LEVEL 118 USB HOST CNTLR 126 300 302 l PC S 10 HUB PERIPHERAL TCHR CNTLR SLEEP 312 216 208 210 218 AUDIO BEZEL MONITOR CONTROL FUNCTIONS BUTTONS FIG 5 US 6 289 466 B1 Sheet 6 of 6 Sep 11 2001 U S Patent US 6 289 466 B1 1 USAGE OF MONITOR BEZEL BUTTONS TO CONTROL AND INDICATE MULTIMEDIA FUNCTIONS This application claims the benefit of U S Provisional Application No 60 049 979 entitled BEZEL BUTTON FUNCTIONS filed Jun 11 1997 BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1 Field of the Invention The invention relates to indicating power status of a host computer system and a monitor with light emitting diodes mounted on the monitor and more particularly to commu nicating power status of the host computer system over a universal serial bus 2 Description of the Related Art As computer systems become more complex there has been an ever increasing effort to simplify the operation of the computer system Early computers were difficult to use and understand Typically the c
4. pressed a command is sent to he USB 126 to mute the mute function has been invoked he function of the button toggles to enable on sequentially effectively tion of the volume shaft encoder The default function of the shaft encoder is volume control There is a fixed time out period of seven 7 seconds The time out is counted after the button is pressed The time out count is restarted every time the audio button is p turned After the ressed or the shaft encoder is time out period the function of the shaft encoder automatically reverts to volume control Pushing the button once changes the function of the shaft encoder to Bass control pushing the button a second time before time out changes the function of the shaft encoder to treble a third time control Pushing the button before time out changes the function of the shaft encoder back to volume control Turning the shaft encoder causes the module to send signals 126 to adjus to the curren In all cases the o the base system B over the USB audio control corresponding function of the shaft encoder urning the shaft encoder clockwise causes an increase in the control and turning the shaft encoder counter clockwise causes a decrease in the control The function of the shaft encoder is made clear to the on screen dis he user by visual feedback via play OSD Normally there is no OSD and the default fun
5. computer system responsive to determining the multimedia application is present dynamically assigning functionality of the multimedia application to the bezel push buttons receiving the activation from the bezel push buttons selectively repeating the steps of determining and dynamically assigning responsive to a user input and responsive to receiving the activation executing the multimedia application code in the multimedia appli cation associated with the functionality assigned to the bezel push buttons 10 The computer system of claim 9 wherein the step of dynamically assigning functionality to the bezel push but tons includes obtaining window handles and registering the function to the bezel push buttons 11 The system of claim 9 wherein the step of determin ing the multimedia application is present includes determin ing if a MIDI player is present 12 The system of claim 9 wherein the step of determin ing multimedia application present includes determining if a CD ROM player is present
6. Descriptions 5 758 172 Son a Standard Microsystems Corporation SMCG Personal 5 758 174 5 1998 Crump et al 713 323 Computer Input Output Products Copyright 1995 1997 5 781 028 7 1998 326 30 ESS Technology Inc ES1887 AudioDrive Product Brief 5 802 318 9 1998 Murray et al 710 100 5 815 679 9 1998 710 129 cited by examiner US 6 289 466 B1 Sheet 1 of 6 Sep 11 2001 U S Patent L Old NEN EIS Olt 9 eT Oo ME 45 00 1 GD zi 891 917 ay POL 29 1 0 1 9917 9 981 291 091 1 gri 251 5 E s H 1 851 821 ds ori zz 9 sng 128 in WW 801 Hu3T1041N02 HAN 4085320 4 U S Patent Sep 11 2001 Sheet 2 of 6 US 6 289 466 B1 e y Q e US 6 289 466 B1 Sheet 3 of 6 Sep 11 2001 U S Patent 002 Old 90c p ewe 90 01 ain TW 30H yomon zens 7 SNISS390Hd IZISH 43315 YOLINOW 030IA NOIHSQ Nid 010234 1 bel US 6 289 466 B1 Sheet 4 of 6 Sep 11 2001 U S Patent 902 ZLE d3TIS HOLINOW 912 INMOA e 1804 YITIOULNOD via
7. can look up the application 422 registered to the bezel button 208 and distribute the event to the appropriate application 422 In turn the BEZEL DLL 404 loads the BEZEL VXD and registers with the BEZEL VXD to obtain a Windows handle The BEZEL DLL 404 communicates with the BEZEL VXD 410 with Windows DeviceloControl functions The BEZEL VXD 410 communicates to the BEZEL DLL 404 by posting Windows messages When BEZEL VXD 410 is loaded it looks for BZL SYS 408 and AUD SYS 412 It performs WriteFile to each WDM driver 408 and 412 to register with it and obtain a function pointer In turn BZL SYS 408 and AUD SYS maintain the pointer for reciprocal communication The foregoing disclosure and description of the invention are illustrative and explanatory thereof and various changes US 6 289 466 B1 13 in the size shape materials components circuit elements wiring connections and contacts as well as in the details of the illustrated circuitry and construction and method of operation may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention What is claimed is 1 A method of implementing bezel buttons to control a peripheral in a computer system incorporating a monitor processor and a multimedia application the monitor incor porating a monitor controller bezel push buttons and a display the method comprising determining a multimedia application is present in the computer system
8. of inactivity and 2 when the sleep button 212 is depressed In sleep mode the screen is blanked and the processor 100 is stopped to conserve power The computer system C can awake from sleep mode All LEDs 210 including the SUN and MOON icons are off when base system B is powered off Thus the SUN MOON and LED 210 icons are responsive to commands received from the processor 100 via the USB 126 Referring now to FIG 3 there 15 illustrated schematic diagram of certain circuitry of the monitor 102 according to the preferred embodiment A USB hub peripheral controller 300 such as an Intel 83930HX Universal Serial Bus Microcontroller is connected to a monitor microcontroller 302 such as an Motorola MC68HCP058 The USB hub peripheral controller 300 includes a USB hub and USB embedded function capabilities as well as a MCS 251 US 6 289 466 B1 9 microcontroller For more information on the USB hub peripheral controller 300 please refer to specification No 272928 003 entitled 8x930Hx Universal Serial Bus Hub Peripheral Controller and specification No 274929 001 entitled 8x930Ax 8x930Hx Universal Serial Bus Micro controller User s Manual published by Intel Corporation and available on the World Wide Web at http developer intel com design usb both of which are hereby incorporated by reference The monitor microcontroller 302 is operable to control various monitor attributes su
9. be obtained when the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment is considered in conjunction with the following drawings in which FIG 1 is a block diagram illustrating a computer system C according to the preferred embodiment FIG 2 is a front view of a monitor M according to the preferred embodiment FIG 3 is a schematic diagram of certain circuitry of the monitor 102 according to the preferred embodiment FIG 4 is a more detailed block diagram of the USB hub peripheral controller and the bezel circuitry of FIG 3 FIG 5 is a block diagram of a number of hardware and software layers of the present invention according to the preferred embodiment and FIG 6 is a screen shot of an on screen display applet of the invention DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The following disclosure is hereby incorporated by ref erence U S Provisional Application Serial No 60 049 979 entitled Bezel Button Functions by Valiuddin Ali Will iam W Diehl Henry D Souza Gokalp Bayramoglu and Gary C Welch filed Jun 11 1997 Turning now to FIG 1 a computer system C suitable for an embodiment of the present invention is shown The computer system C is comprised of a base system B and a monitor M 102 A desktop style computer system is illus trated although the present invention works equally as well on servers and other types of computer systems The base system B includes a processor 100 such as a Int
10. ch as horizontal and vertical position horizontal and vertical size and pin cushion and trapezoidal compensations The monitor microcontroller 302 is connected to a conventional video processing system 304 of the monitor 102 The video processing system 304 receives standard analog RGB red green blue input from the VGA connector 142 when coupled to the base system B In the preferred embodiment contrast and brightness con trols are provided to the video processing system 304 from two standard voltage potentiometers 306 and 308 Alternatively the contrast and brightness control informa tion could be provided from the monitor microcontroller 302 After processing the RGB input according to the monitor attributes the video processing system 304 provides a video output VO signal to the CRT 200 which is controlled by a set of deflection control signals DEF The USB hub peripheral controller 300 is operable to provide a communications link between the base system B and the monitor 102 over the USB 126 More particularly the USB hub peripheral controller 300 is operable to receive bezel button signals for passing to the base system B and operable to receive processor 100 sleep information from the base system B for controlling the state LEDs 214 Additionally the USB hub peripheral controller 300 receives the monitor attribute information from the base system B via the USB 126 for passing to the monitor microcontroller 302 Because the beze
11. ction of the s Turning the shaft condition causes haft encoder is volume control encoder under this basic the OSD to display a volume control pictogram Pressing the Audio button one time causes period After the he OSD to display a bass control pictogram This condition lasts for the time out time out period elapses the OSD before a time oul period elapses thi clears Pressing the Audio button a second time occurs causes the OSD to display a treble control pictogram This condition asts for the time out period After the time out e OSD clears Pressing the Aud ime out occurs pictogram io button a third time before a causes the OSD to clear At his default point if the shaft encoder is adjusted the OSD will display a volume control 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 8 TABLE I continued BUTTON DESCRIPTION Sleep button 212 When this button is pressed a command is sent to base system B over the USB 126 to place the computer system C into sleep Preferably his button is pressed again to wake up the computer C Preferably no other device can wake up the system When this button is pressed a command is sent o the base system B over the USB 126 indicating hat the button 218 was depressed Thereafter a mouse controlled applet MONITOR CPL is aunched for monitor control Based upon mouse selected functions corresponding commands are sent
12. e to launch load or execute a favorite software application a sixth button that is prepro grammed to launch an internet browser a seventh button that is preprogrammed to mute the speakers and an eighth button that is predefined to alternate between bass and treble audio control Selector 318 receives input from two switches the OSD switch 218 and the SLEEP switch 212 One end of the OSD switch 218 is connected to a resistor R3 and a data input of the selector 318 An opposite end of the OSD switch 218 is connected to ground One end of the SLEEP switch 212 is connected to a resistor R4 and a data input of the selector 318 An opposite end of the SLEEP switch 212 is connected to ground The USB hub peripheral controller 300 is operable to write data to port1 314 to cause a selection to be made at the selectors 316 and 318 While the selection is made each selector 316 and 318 provides data at a Y output to 314 from one of its eight data inputs After the data is read a different selection is made This is repeated so that all ten switches 208 218 and 212 are continuously monitored 314 also reads the state of the MONITOR SLEEP signal 312 A port3 320 provides a clock and data line for the I7C bus 310 interface Port3 320 also controls the SUN and MOON LEDs 214 via a driver 324 One output of the port3 320 supplies a COMMON signal 322 to turn on and off the IFDs 210 Normally the LEDs 210 are illuminated e
13. el Pentium or Pentium II processor and other support circuitry The monitor 102 is a 15 or 17 cathode ray tube CRT style monitor having a pair of audio speakers 104 and a front bezel 106 Included with the monitor 102 are buttons and light emitting diodes LEDs on the front bezel 106 The buttons provide control to the processor 100 while the LEDs are responsive to the processor 100 Communication between the buttons LEDs and processor 100 is over a universal serial bus USB Although the preferred embodi ment is a CRT monitor the principles disclosed herein are equally applicable to other types of monitors such as flat screen monitors It is also noted that other devices besides monitors can utilize the present invention Coupled to the processor 100 in the base system B is a memory PCI cache controller 108 and optionally a level 2 cache 110 The mnemonic PCI stands for Peripheral Component Interconnect which is a well known computer bus The memory PCI cache controller 108 forms host to PCI bridge and provides the second level cache control and a full function 64 bit data path to a main memory 112 The memory PCI cache controller 108 integrates cache and main memory control functions and provides bus control to trans fers between the processor 100 cache 110 main memory 112 and a PCI bus 114 On example of the memory PClIcache controller 108 is an Intel 82439TX system con troller US 6 289 466 B1 5 Also coupled t
14. esponsive to the MONITOR SLEEP signal 312 to control the SUN and MOON LEDs 214 in accordance with Table II Referring now to FIG 4 there is illustrated a detailed block diagram of the USB hub peripheral controller 300 and 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 10 the bezel circuitry 206 The USB hub peripheral controller 300 includes an MCS 51 compatible microcontroller architecture including four 8 bit I O ports two of which are utilized by the present invention A 314 is connected to two 8 bit selector multiplexors 316 and 318 Each selec tor 316 and 318 receives three select signals from port1 314 Each selector 316 and 318 provides a data output to 314 Selector 316 receives input from the eight bezel buttons 208 The bezel buttons 208 are comprised of a normally open switch One end of the switch 208 is connected to a resistor R1 an anode end of a light emitting diode LED 210 and a data input of the selector 316 An opposite end of the switch 208 is connected to a cathode end of the LED 210 and a current limiting resister R2 The switch 208 resistor R1 and LED 210 form a single bezel button user interface 320 Although it is not shown each data input of the selector 316 has associated with it a bezel button user interface 320 The eight bezel button user interfaces include four buttons for controlling playback of the CD ROM 134 a fifth button that is user programmabl
15. hesizer The audio controller 152 has six I O lines a joystick interface 168 for connecting to a joystick 170 a microphone interface 172 for connecting to a microphone 174 an audio input line 176 an audio output line 178 a CD ROM not shown for receiving audio from the CD ROM 134 and a speaker line 180 for connect ing with the monitor speakers 104 or alternatively a set of stand alone speakers 182 The audio controller 152 further couples to a tone generator 184 One example of the audio controller 152 is an ES 1887 AudioDrive made by ESS Technology Inc The universal serial bus 126 is a peripheral bus standard developed by PC and telecom industry leaders that allows plug and play of computer peripherals outside the base 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 6 system B eliminating the need to install cards into the PCI slots 116 or ISA slots 148 and reconfigure the computer system C The USB 126 allows computer peripherals to be automatically configured as soon as they are physically attached without the need to reboot or run setup The USB 126 also allow multiple devices up to 127 to run simulta neously on the computer system C The USB 126 uses a tiered star topology which means that some USB devices called USB hubs can serve as connection ports for other USB peripherals also called functions With peripherals such as the monitor 102 and keyboard 154 acting as additional
16. ided by Microsoft provides a software layer between the host controller 118 and the USBD SYS 418 The UHCD SYS 420 interprets requests from the USBD SYS 418 and builds frame list transfer descriptor queue head and data buffer data struc tures for the host controller 118 The data structures are built in memory 112 and contain all necessary information to provide end to end communication between MON SYS BZL SYS and AUDj SYS and the hub peripheral controller 300 Note that the BZL SYS 408 and AUD SYS 412 communicate with a bezel virtual device driver BEZEL VXD 410 which communicates the bezel board dynamic link library BEZEL DLL 404 Instead of using a WIN32 Driver Model WDM the BEZEL VXD 410 was utilized because it was stable code with a well defined ring 3 interface to trap and communicate bezel button informa tion using non maskable interrupts NMI callbacks from the basic input output service BIOS A WDM module is contemplated however The BEZEL DLL 404 supports a number of multimedia applications 422 such as a CD ROM player MIDI player and other applications requiring the bezel buttons 208 When one of the applications is loaded the application 422 loads the BEZEL DLL 404 and dynamically grabs function point ers to obtain Windows handles and register the bezel buttons with the application 422 This way when bezel button events are passed to BEZEL DLL 404 from USB 126 BEZEL DLL 404
17. l buttons 208 and LEDs 210 are under control of the hub peripheral controller 300 even though the processor 100 is inoperable or asleep the bezel buttons 208 and LEDs 210 are operable Hence an LED 210 could be blinked by the hub peripheral controller 300 while the processor 100 is asleep This is useful for example where a sustained blinking LED indication is needed such as for indicating that a fax or message has been received An Inter Integrated Circuit pronounced eye squared see bus 310 connects the monitor controller 302 to the USB hub peripheral controller 300 The I C bus 310 is a two wire synchronous serial interface which allows com munication between intelligent IC devices For more general information on bus 310 please refer to the Bus Specification available from Philips Semiconductors and hereby incorporated by reference For additional informa tion on the implementation of the bus 310 on the USB hub peripheral controller 300 please refer to Application Note AP476 entitled How to Implement Serial Com munication Using Intel MCS 51 Microcontrollers avail able from Intel Corporation and hereby incorporated by reference The monitor microcontroller 302 also provides a MONI TOR SLEEP signal 312 to the USB hub peripheral control ler 300 when the monitor microcontroller 302 places the monitor 102 into a low power mode DPMS suspend mode The USB hub peripheral controller 300 is r
18. l graphics controller such as a Trio64V2 multimedia accelerator made by S3 Corporation is utilized The ISA bus 136 is further coupled to one or more ISA slots 148 an input output I O controller 150 and an audio controller 152 The I O controller 150 incorporates a key board controller which is connectable to a keyboard 154 and a mouse 156 through PS 2 style connectors 158 and 160 respectively a floppy disk controller which is connected to a floppy disk drive 162 two 16C550 compatible universal asynchronous receiver transmitter UARTs which are con nected to a pair of serial port connectors 164 and one multi mode parallel port which is connected to a parallel port connector 166 One example of the I O controller is an FDC37C685 made by Standard Microsystems Corporation It is also contemplated that the keyboard 154 could be connected to the base system B via the USB 126 instead of connecting directly to the keyboard interface 158 In another variant a USB keyboard 154 could include a USB hub to connecting with a USB mouse The audio controller 152 15 a single mixed signal con troller that provides 16 bit stereo sound and frequency modulation a FM music synthesis It includes an embed ded microprocessor a 20 voice FM music synthesizer a 16 bit stereo wave coder decoder CODEC a 16 bit stereo music digital to analog DAC a hardware master volume control serial port dual game port and supports an external wavetable music synt
19. ler via the USB A multifunction audio dial is toggled by a bezel button between volume bass and treble functions The USB controller is also operable to provide a sustain a blinking LED even while the base system is in a sleep mode LEDs on the front bezel indicate monitor and base system power status 12 Claims 6 Drawing Sheets goo 104b US 6 289 466 B1 Page 2 U S PATENT DOCUMENTS 5 831 597 11 1998 West et 345 163 5 867 149 2 1999 Jaeger 345 172 5 436 898 7 1995 Bowen et al 370 79 5 938 772 8 1999 Welch 713 320 5 440 690 8 1995 Rege et al 395 200 02 5 483 260 1 1996 Parks et al 345 156 OTHER PUBLICATIONS 5 553 294 9 1996 et al 713 340 5 559 531 9 1996 Schiffer 345 168 Microsoft Corporation WDM USB Driver Interface Copy 5 563 839 10 1996 Herdt et al 365 227 right 1997 5 565 897 10 1996 Kikinis et al 2349 213 Microsoft Corporation USB Plug and Play IDs and Select 5 581 772 12 1996 Nanno et al 713 340 3 5 5 5 630 104 5 1997 Ottesen et al cs 395 500 Device Drivers to Load Copyright 1997 5 636 211 6 1997 Newlin et al 370 465 USB Universal Serial Bus Home Page The Simple and 5 638 083 6 1997 Margeson 345 10 Flexible Way to Connect External Devices to Your Desktop 5 657 417 8 1997 Di Troia 358 829 or Notebook PC 5708520 1 998 Park etal 5 8005 33 Products
20. mands to the computers the graphical user interface sometimes adds complexity and confusion Thus there is still a need for some input method or apparatus that increases user friendliness by reducing operator confusion when performing or executing certain system functions The computer industry is continually striving to provide additional computer enhancements to entice computer nov ices to purchase a computer system Despite the near uni versal presence of the computer in the office environment many people still are uncomfortable with computers and are reluctant to purchase or upgrade a home computer Therefore it is important for computer designers to add new features in a cost effective manner to new computer products while at the same time giving the user a feeling of familiarity and comfort For example a CD ROM drive in a modern computer often doubles as an audio CD player A computer may also double as a VCR television or a tele phone answering machine Other roles for the computer will inevitably develop While the user may be familiar with the operation of these devices the benefit of adding these 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 2 functions into the computer is often undermined because the average user may be unable or unwilling to access the menus or controls to operate these enhanced features For instance to use the CD ROM player as an audio CD player a user is required to pr
21. me bass and treble control Not shown are conventional analog control dials for controlling monitor contrast and brightness It is understood that other 7 controls and LEDs could be utilized without changing the spirit of the invention The function of the buttons is described in Table I US 6 289 466 B1 TABLE I BUTTON DESCRIPTION CD Play Pause When this button is pressed a command is sent to button 208 unction CD Stop button 208 When this bu unction CD Next Track When this bu button 208 rack function base system B over on is base system B over he USB 126 to start the play Once the play function has been invoked the unction of the button toggles to pause on is base system B over pressed a command is sent to he USB 126 to start the stop pressed a command is sent to he USB 126 to start the next CD Previous Track When this button is pressed a command is sent to button 208 base system B over the USB 126 to start the previous track function User configurable When this button is pressed a command is sent to button 208 base system B over the USB 126 to start the user configured functi Internet button 208 When this bu Internet function When this bu Mute button 208 sound Once the he sound Pushing this butt changes the func Audio button 208 on is base system B over on is base system B over on pressed a command is sent to he USB 126 to start the
22. ndard hub controller driver preferably provided by Microsoft loaded when a USB class driver USBD SYS 418 enumer ates the root hub built into the host controller 118 The 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 12 USBHUB SYS driver 416 communicates with the USBD SYS 418 preferably provided by Microsoft to form the main USB driver interface The USBD SYS 418 is a USB class driver for supporting the USB 126 in the Windows95 OS which is provided by Microsoft Corporation as part of OSR 2 1 In turn the USBD SYS 418 communicates with a Uni versal Host Controller Driver UHCD SYS Together the USBHUJB SYS 416 USBD SYS 418 and UHCD SYS 420 drivers form what is known as a USB driver stackl As an alternative to the UHCD SYS driver 420 which is written in accordance with a Universal Host Controller Interface Specification the host controller 118 could operate with OpenHCI driver For more details on the Open Host Controller Interface Specification for USB driver please refer to the OpenHCI Specification published by Compaq Computer Corporation which is hereby incorporated by reference For more details on the Universal Host Controller Interface Specification please refer to the Universal HCI Design Guide published by Intel Corporation and available on the World Wide Web at http developer intel com design usb which is hereby incorporated by reference The UHCD SYS 420 preferably prov
23. o the PCI bus 114 are or more PCI slots 116 a PCI ISA bridge 118 and a graphics controller 120 The mnemonic ISA stands for Industry Standard Architecture The bridge 118 is a multifunction PCI device implementing a PCI to ISA bridge function a PCI intelli gent disk electronics IDE function a Universal Serial Bus USB host hub function and an enhanced power manage ment function Coupled to the PCI ISA bridge 118 are a pair of USB connectors 122 and 124 which provide connectivity to a universal serial bus 126 a pair of IDE connectors 128 and 130 for connecting with a hard disk drive 132 and a compact disk read only memory CD ROM 134 and an ISA bus 136 One example of the PCI ISA bridge 118 is an Intel 82371AB PCI to ISA IDE accelerator The graphics controller 120 is further coupled and sup ported by a video frame memory 138 and an analog to digital converter 140 such as a Brooktree BT827 for receiving composite video via a standard RCA Radio Corporation of America jack 146 Graphics data is trans mitted to the monitor 102 through a conventional video graphics array VGA connector 142 Additionally the graphics controller 120 supports a Video Electronic Stan dards Association VESA connector 144 for multimedia applications In one embodiment of the computer system C a 3D graphics controller such as a VirgeGX multimedia accelerator made by S3 Corporation is utilized and in another embodiment a 2 dimensiona
24. oceed with the mouse through multiple levels of icons or pull down menus before a CD is loaded and ready to play The user must then use the mouse to select play music from a menu or screen before music is played Therefore as the array of options increases users will be faced with increasingly complex graphics user interfaces unless another solution is found One approach to solving the problem has been disclosed in U S patent application Ser 08 846 333 entitled Computer Interface With Hardwire Button Array filed on Apr 30 1997 and assigned to Compaq Computer Corpora tion That application discloses a set of button switches referred to as a button array mounted to the top of a mini tower computer system Each button in the array provides a particular control function such as controlling the playback of CD s answering telephone calls and other desired system functions To identify the functions con trolled by the buttons each button is labeled with alphanu meric characters or icons representing the function associ ated with the button Some buttons also have a light emitting diode LED associated with it to indicate status Although using a button array is an effective solution to the problem being able to easily access the buttons some times may be difficult if the mini tower is not within reach Without being able to easily access the button array the user may be discouraged from using the buttons Furthe
25. omputer was controlled with memorized keystrokes and command sequences If the key strokes were not memorized the user was left with no alternative but to thumb through pages of documentation to find the elusive command Over time the keyboards were enhanced to include func tion and control keys However the addition of keys to the original keyboard had certain drawbacks such as additional confusion and a lack of consistency in their use For many computer users memorizing and typing in commands to the computer via the keyboard is awkward and complicated Because of this alternate data input devices to the keyboard have been developed One of the most popular of these alternate data input devices is a mouse To maximize the usefulness of the mouse and to simplify entry of commands into a computer a graphical operating system has been developed by Microsoft Corporation and others By using the mouse the user can move a pointer across the screen to select functional screen elements such as a pull down menu icon or button However as computer systems operating systems and soft ware applications have become increasingly powerful many more menus icons and buttons are available for selection by the user Operating systems and software applications may require a user to navigate many levels of pull down menus or icons before reaching the desired function or command Under these circumstances instead of simplifying the entry of com
26. onitor is represented in a unique MOON and SUN shaped LEDs Additionally one of the bezel buttons is dedicated to moving the computer system in and out of sleep mode As an extension of this technology a telephone message indicator light can also blink on a monitor that is connected to the base system via a universal serial bus USB In this implementation when the base system is put into sleep mode it includes a USB controller chip which is itself powered down thus saving power In this mode no com munications can occur over the universal serial bus Instead of messages being passed over the USB according to the invention a controller is implemented within the monitor itself which remains powered by the monitor power This controller continues to blink a light on the monitor itself to indicate that a message is available or otherwise leave the light off if a message is not The controller is preferably controlled by software downloaded from the base system or by firmware embedded within the controller or within a flash ROM If a telephone call were to come into the base system 10 15 20 40 45 50 55 60 65 4 the base system would come out of sleep mode answer the call record the message and send a message over the USB to indicate that the message available light should be blinked by the controller within the monitor BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS A better understanding of the present invention can
27. or a International Business Machines IBM PowerPC The PCI ISA Bridge 118 USB Host controller is shown coupled to the USB hub peripheral controller 300 via the Universal Serial Bus 126 as illustrated in FIGS 3 and 4 The remaining hardware connected to the USB hub peripheral controller 300 has been described above and therefore its description is not repeated here It is shown for a better understanding of the data flow There is software operating at a ring 3 layer and a ring 0 layer Ring 3 is generally used for user applications while ring 0 is generally used by system software since there is much more protection for ring 0 software At ring 3 is a MONITOR CPL applet 400 MONITOR DLL dynamic link library 402 and a BEZEL DLL dynamic link library 404 The MONITOR CPL module 400 is Windows95 control panel applet used to set screen attributes A screen snapshot of the user interface presented by the MONITOR CPL is illustrated in FIG 6 When the OSD button 218 is pressed command is sent to the processor 100 over the USB 126 indicating that the button 218 was depressed causing the MONITOR DLL 402 to load MONITOR CPL 400 The MONITOR DLL 402 is a dynamic link library that imple ments the monitor interface to applications Applications such as MONITOR CPL can use the MONITOR DLL 402 to read and write attributes to the monitor device In turn the MONITOR DLL 402 reads and writes the monitor 102 screen attributes via a USB monito
28. plug in sites or hubs only one USB device needs to be plugged into the computer system C Other devices can then be plugged into the hub In the preferred embodiment the monitor 102 includes a USB hub having one upstream port for plugging directly into the base system B and four downstream ports for additional functions explained below For further details on the Universal Serial Bus please refer to the Universal Serial Bus Specification available on the World Wide Web at http www usb org or from Intel Corporation which is hereby incorporated by reference Referring now to FIG 2 there is illustrated a front view of the monitor 102 in greater detail Other views are not necessary for a complete understanding of the invention The monitor 102 comprises a CRT 200 and its related circuitry encased in an rigid enclosure 204 made of plastic or the like which forms a bezel 206 around a face of the CRT 200 Integral with the enclosure on opposing sides of the CRT 200 are speakers 104a and 1045 The speakers 104a b receive an audio signal from base system B via the analog speaker line 180 It is contemplated that the speakers could alternatively receive audio data via the USB 126 On a front lower portion of the bezel 206 are a number of buttons 208 with corresponding LEDs 210 On a left hand side are four buttons for controlling playback of the CD ROM 134 including a play button a next track button a previous track button and a s
29. r device driver _ MON SYS 406 The MON SYS 406 is a ring 0 USB device driver having a ring 3 interface The MONITOR DLL 402 uses a Windows DeviceloControl function to communicate with the MON SYS driver 406 at ring 0 There are a number of other ring 0 modules including a bezel board driver BZL SYS 408 a legacy bezel board driver BEZEL VXD 410 and an audio driver AUD SYS 412 These ring 0 modules further communicate with a single USB device driver USB SYS 414 Because all the functions available through the monitor bezel 206 are treated by the USB 126 as a single USB device a single device driver CPQ__USB SYS is utilized When the USB 126 identifies the monitor 102 connected the USB SYS 414 is loaded In turn USB SYS 414 will load MON SYS 406 BZL SYS 408 and CPQ AUJD SYS 412 the monitor bezel board and audio drivers respectively This architecture allows these three drivers to sit parallel to each other rather than stacked on top of each other if each was treated as a separate USB function CPQ_USB SYS driver 414 simply operates to pass USB commands from the higher level drivers to a USB hub driver USBHUB SYS 416 The higher level drivers MON SYS 406 BZL SYS 408 and AUD SYS 412 use Windows ReadFile and WriteFile func tions to communicate with the USBHUB SYS 416 LSB driver stack The USBHUB SYS driver 416 is a sta
30. re are several dedicated buttons on the bezel of the monitor for controlling such screen functions as horizontal and vertical size and position color contrast and brightness In an effort to reduce costs the dedicated buttons were replaced with multifunction buttons which allowed the user to select one of the functions to adjust from an on screen display OSD menu provided by a controller in the monitor However the menuing system was text based and cumbersome Additionally a special controller was required in the monitor to provide the on US 6 289 466 B1 3 screen display which added to the cost Therefore it was desirable to provide a better user interface to monitor functions SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION computer system according to the present invention includes a monitor and a base system having a processor The monitor includes a front bezel having controls and light emitting diodes LEDs for indicating status The monitor is connectable to the base system by a universal serial bus USB The USB permits bidirectional communication between the monitor and the base system Some controls such as CD ROM play next track previous track pause and stop commands are push buttons which supply commands to the base system Other controls initiate a process which causes information to be supplied to the monitor The monitor includes a monitor controller for adjusting monitor attributes according to user s wishes The monitor also incl
31. responsive to determining the multimedia application is present dynamically assigning functionality of the multimedia application to the bezel push buttons receiving an activation from the bezel push buttons selec tively repeating the steps of determining and dynami cally assigning responsive to a user input and responsive to receiving the activation executing multi media application code in the multimedia application associated with the functionality assigned to the bezel push buttons 2 The method of claim 1 wherein the step of dynamically assigning functionality to the bezel push buttons includes obtaining window handles and registering the function to the bezel push buttons 3 The method of claim 1 wherein the step of determining a multimedia application is present includes determining if a MIDI player is present 4 The method of claim 1 wherein the step of determining multimedia application present includes determining if a CD ROM player is present 5 A system connectable to a monitor with bezel push buttons the system for communicating with a multimedia application upon a bezel push button event the system comprising a microcontroller multimedia application code the multimedia application code when executed causing the microcontroller to perform the steps of determining a multimedia application is present in the computer system responsive to determining the multimedia application is present dynamicall
32. rmore if status information is presented with an LED but the mini tower is not within a convenient viewing range the status information goes unappreciated Another approach to solving the problem has been dis closed in U S patent application Ser No 08 667 582 entitled Controlling Multimedia Aspects of a Computer filed on Jul 12 1996 and assigned to Compaq Computer Corporation That application discloses a monitor having a volume control knob on its front control panel This of course is a hardware alternative to the software solution offered by the operating system which requires a mouse Embedded within the monitor is a microcontroller for sens ing rotation of the volume control knob and communicating the movement back to a host computer A proprietary interface was developed between the monitor and the com puter system A signal is sent directly to an audio chip over a pair of spare wires in a conventional video graphics array VGA cable Although this is an outstanding concept the design incurred a noticeable delay from the actuation of the volume knob to the audible response of the system due to a 40 ms delay requirement of the audio chip This caused the audio system to respond slowly and unpredictably Additionally the method is not easily transportable to other computer systems due to the proprietary nature of the solution Yet another problem exists with respect to digital controls on the monitor Typically the
33. to the monitor 102 from the base system B over the USB 126 These commands cause the monitor s microcontroller to execute the desired monitor control commands The applet remembers the previous state of monitor controls upon power on OSD button 218 In addition to the above described buttons and LEDs there is another centrally located button 212 for placing the computer system C into a sleep mode to conserve energy There are two LEDs associated with the sleep button 212 for indicating the state of the computer system C One of the icons is a SUN and another is a MOON Table II is a state table for the illumination of the LEDs TABLE II SUN MOON LEDs 210 Normal Operation ON OFF ON Display Power ON OFF ON Management System DPMS Standby DPMS Suspend OFF ON ON Sleep OFF ON OFF Base System B OFF OFF OFF power off The DPMS standby and suspend modes are controlled by the graphics controller 120 The standby mode is entered when the graphics controller 120 ceases providing a hori zontal synch signal to the monitor 102 The suspend mode 15 entered when the graphics controller 120 ceases providing a vertical synch signal to the monitor 102 Both of these events cause the monitor 102 to enter a low power mode and blank the screen The system can awake from suspend or standby modes in response to any user input Sleep mode is entered by one of at least two methods 1 when the processor 100 detects a certain period
34. top button Each button has a backlit icon associated therewith for ease of identification By default the icons are lit While the button is depressed the icon 210 is not lit On a right side are four additional buttons for other control functions One button is user programmable to launch load or execute a favorite soft ware application another button is preprogrammed to launch an internet browser a third button is preprogrammed to mute the speakers and a fourth button is predefined to alternate between volume bass and treble audio control Another button 218 is used to provide an indication to the processor 100 that an on screen display OSD should be displayed for configuring the monitor attributes such as horizontal and vertical position horizontal and vertical size and pin cushion and trapezoidal compensations It is con templated that contrast and a brightness adjustments could be made with the on screen display also however the preferred embodiment uses conventional analog dials for these controls The buttons 208 are coupled to a USB hub inside the monitor 102 for communicating their status with the processor 100 In addition to the buttons and LEDs there is a audio control 216 on the front bezel for controlling the volume bass treble of the audio produced by the audio controller 152 The audio control 216 utilizes a shaft encoder A single one of the buttons 208 is operable to cause an onscreen display toggle between volu
35. udes a USB controller for communicating with the base system An on screen display OSD button on the monitor causes an application to be launched on the base system for controlling monitor attributes The application is conve niently operated under the Windows operating system with a mouse Before the application is displayed on the monitor the base system requests the monitor to supply current monitor attributes maintained by the monitor controller After the current attributes have been displayed and adjusted the base system sends the new attributes to the monitor via the USB The USB controller on the monitor receives the adjustments and sends them to the monitor controller An audio dial operates as volume bass and treble control One of the bezel buttons controls which function the audio dial is adjusting When the audio dial is operated data sent to the base system over the USB causes three bars volume bass and treble to be displayed on the monitor for making the adjustment As the bezel button toggles the function of the audio dial the bar changes color to indicate which function is selected Other bezel buttons have specific or general purpose functions Examples of specific functions are CD play start stop pause eject and rewind telephony functions and sleep awake modes A further enhancement results from the bidirectional communication between the monitor and base system The power status of the base system and m
36. xcept when a bezel button 208 is depressed and the COMMON signal 322 is forced low However if COM MON signal 322 is forced high the LEDs 210 are turned off The port3 320 also receives up down pulses from a audio control shaft encoder 216 Recall that the audio control is operable to control volume bass and treble based on the audio button 208 Rotating the audio control 216 to the right clockwise causes a command to be sent to the processor 100 over the USB 126 to increase the current audio function rotating volume control 216 to the left counter clockwise causes a command to be sent to the processor 100 over the USB 126 to decrease the current audio function Now referring to FIG 5 there is illustrated a block diagram of a number of hardware and software layers of the present invention according to the preferred embodiment The present embodiment of the invention utilizes a Win dows95 operating system running on x86 compatible pro cessor However since much of the device driver software is US 6 289 466 B1 11 written according to a Microsoft WIN32 Driver Model WDM those drivers are the also compatible with a Win dows NT operating system and the Microsoft Windows Memphis OS Of course the principles disclosed herein could be utilized to develop drivers for other operating systems such as OS 2 and UNIX and processors such as a Digital Equipment Corporation DEC Alpha a Silicon Graphic MIPS processor
37. y assigning functionality of the multimedia application to the bezel push buttons receiving the activation from the bezel push buttons selectively repeating the steps of determining and dynamically assigning responsive to a user input and 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 14 responsive to receiving the activation executing mul timedia application code in the multimedia applica tion associated with the functionality assigned to the bezel push buttons 6 The system of claim 5 wherein the step of dynamically assigning functionality to the bezel push buttons includes obtaining window handles and registering the function to the bezel push buttons 7 The system of claim 5 wherein the step of determining a multimedia application is present includes determining if a MIDI player is present 8 The system of claim 5 wherein the step of determining multimedia application present includes determining if a CD ROM player is present 9 A computer system for communicating with a multi media application upon a bezel push button event the computer system comprising a microcontroller a monitor coupled to the microcontroller the monitor including bezel push buttons a multimedia application coupled to the microcontroller multimedia application code the multimedia application code when executed causing the microcontroller to perform the steps of determining the multimedia application is present in the
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